Actresses Geetha Vijayan and Sridevika accused director Thulasi Das of sexual harassment
Malayalam actresses Geetha Vijayan and Sridevika have accused director Thulasi Das of sexual misconduct. This comes just days after the Hema Committee report was released.
Actresses Geetha Vijayan and Sridevika have accused director Thulasi Das of sexual harassment during a film shoot. The allegations have resurfaced days after the explosive Hema Committee report was made public. The report exposed rampant sexual harassment, exploitation, pay disparity and lobbying.
According to an interview HomelandGeetha Vijayan revealed that director Thulasi Das harassed her during the shooting of ‘Chinchhattam’ in 1991. She said that her hotel room was repeatedly knocked on. When Geetha protested, she was subjected to vindictive behaviour where he refused to tell her the scenes on the sets of the film.
Geeta also alleged that Tulsidas had threatened to remove her from the film.
She praised the current movement and called it ‘powerful’. She said, “All those who commit violence against women have a fear in them and this fear is their punishment. This fear should always remain. I hope such bad incidents will not happen again. Even if it happens, everyone should have the courage to oppose it.”
Thulasidas denied the allegations in an interview to a regional Malayalam publication. He said, “We were all happy while shooting the film. There was no bad experience to be associated with on the sets of the film. I don’t know why they made such allegations against me.”
Similarly, actress Sridevika recalled a disturbing incident that happened during the shooting of the 2006 film ‘Avan Chandiyude Makaan’. FilmibeatShe told that the filmmaker used to knock on her hotel room’s door continuously late at night. This behaviour of his continued for three-four days. After cross-checking with the hotel reception, Sridevika came to know that the director was knocking on the door.
When Sridevi’s mother told a fellow artist about the incident, she changed her room. She claimed that the director responded by deleting her scenes and dialogues.
Later, Sridevika lodged a formal complaint with the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), but no action was taken.
In 2018, Sreedevika spoke about the incident on Facebook and shared the letter she had written to AMMA. She strongly criticised the association for inaction.